A point guard his entire life, Kyle Anderson is trying to make the switch to forward during his freshman season at UCLA. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES – Suzanne Anderson could sense something was wrong as soon as she heard her son's voice on the other end of the phone.

She had always had that motherly intuition with Kyle. But now, with her son almost 3,000 miles away in California, she had learned to sense the little things. And on this particular phone call, he was noticeably deflated. Just a few hours before Kyle picked up the phone, he and his UCLA Bruins had lost their third of eight games to start the 2012-13 season, which continues Saturday against Texas at Houston's Reliant Stadium.

It was a much tougher start than any in Westwood had expected for UCLA. The start had been especially tough for Kyle — a New Jersey native and top-five national recruit coming into his freshman season. He was averaging fewer than 10 points per game and visibly struggling from the field. He hadn't played much point guard – his natural position – and he'd been forced to learn how to function without the ball in his hands for the first time in his entire basketball career.

He would do all of that, for the sake of the team. He had played other positions before at times in high school, and he knew his coach had the right intentions. But now, with this team, the sacrifices hadn't led to wins. And it hurt.

Kyle told his mom not to tell his dad and long-time basketball coach, Kyle Sr., what they had talked about on this particular call. His mom had always been the emotional one; his dad, the coach, would always be honest with him. Right now, he needed mom.

"He had told me when he was in high school that winning brings happiness," Suzanne said. "And he'd been a very happy person throughout his high school career."

Kyle had grown to be a near-folk hero in New Jersey high school basketball, as the best player on one of the state's best teams of all time. In his junior and senior seasons, St. Anthony's in Jersey City had gone 93-1. The most losses he ever experienced in a high school season was five — at his former school, Paterson Catholic, as a freshman.

So a 5-3 record hit Anderson especially hard. The transition wasn't going as smoothly as he had hoped.

"It was just hard for us," said Shabazz Muhammad, the only freshman ranked higher than Anderson in UCLA's past recruiting class. "We really dominated on the high school-level. Guys are way quicker and stronger and it's a different mindset on defense and offense. We're getting acquainted."

But without a winning record to match that folklore-ish identity, Kyle Anderson will have to redefine himself in his first year of college – a consequence, good or bad, that could mean the difference in UCLA's season.

MAKING THE POINT

Anderson is a risky player – at least that's how his mother defines him. She and his father have made it an effort to know their son's game backward and forward, and they are as familiar as anyone with how unorthodox his style is.

At 6-foot-9, Anderson doesn't look like a point guard. He's not laterally quick – his nickname in high school was "Slo Mo" – and he's certainly got some room to learn on defense. But his mind is that of a point guard. It has always been like that, Kyle Sr. says. It's what made him one of the nation's top prospects.

"I see myself as a point guard," Anderson said in November. "It's something I've been my whole life. I just happened to grow so tall, but the way I think about the game and who I watch the most subconsciously are point guards. It's just who I am."

That's why Anderson and his father searched through a sea of offers for a school that would take a risk on a 6-9 point guard. That was the hope with UCLA.

"I think he still sees himself as a point guard, but the new age basketball mind seems to think that a point guard has to be able to play defense against the opposing point guard," Kyle Sr. said. "I'm from the old school, and the point guard is a mentality. It's not a size or a quickness. ... I think a lot of people who are just starting to see Kyle and have heard about the hype, think that he was called a point guard simply because he can pass the ball and has good court vision. He's been called a point guard because, since the age of 7 years old, he's been a point guard."

Through nine games this season, the Bruins have played with primarily Larry Drew II at the point. Anderson has taken the ball up the court at times, and Coach Ben Howland insists that Anderson is still in the picture at point. But Anderson has certainly had the ball in his hands less than at any other time during his basketball career, playing mostly as a stretch forward.

"He had it in his mind that it would be a clearer path, we'll say," Suzanne said. "A much smoother ride."

With the ball in his hands, his father said, Anderson is used to being most effective. He's a distributor by nature, not a shooter, and has never really been asked to be a low post player, except against smaller competition. He has no doubt his son will get better at his current role, but there's no doubt in the coach's mind that Kyle has struggled without being the team's point so far.

"My advice to him as the season has started is scrap the point guard, you're never going to be a point guard again," Kyle Sr. said. "Focus on being a scoring four or three. ... Kyle just wants to win; he's the son of a coach. In his mind, every coach wants to win also. He believes that, if coach wants me there ... I'll do whatever the coach needs to do.

"It's been real hard. If he wasn't such a winner, I would think that he would go into a shell."

FOCUS ON WINNING

It's precisely that winning attitude that has Anderson determined to succeed this season. He's been the Bruins' top rebounder at 8.1 boards per game. He's still struggling from the field, but that'll improve, his dad says. You can hear the "coach" in his voice.

Kyle Sr. will head to UCLA a few days before Christmas to work his son out individually on campus. They'll focus on shooting – lots and lots of shooting – and working out of the post. Both father and son are determined.

Anderson will likely finish this season with the most losses he's ever experienced in a season. His future at point guard remains unclear. So without the two things that defined his game, will Anderson be the player UCLA needs him to be? The player he wants himself to be?

"He's always been put in a good position," Kyle Sr. said. "He's always risen to the occasion."

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